Cavendish wins fifth stage

Mark Cavendish stuck two fingers up to his critics – in a metaphorical sense this time – with victory on the fifth stage of the Tour de France.

The 25-year-old HTC-Columbia sprinter recorded his 11th Tour win in three seasons, having twice in the 97th edition of cycling’s most prestigious race failed to deliver.

Mark Cavendish

Cavendish bounced back from Sunday’s crash and yesterday’s 12th-placed finish with a success on the 187.5-kilometres stage from Epernay to Montargis, with Gerald Ciolek (Team Milram) second and Team Sky’s Edvald Boasson Hagen third for a second straight day.

Cavendish has endured a torrid time since winning on the Champs Elysees – including being withdrawn from the Tour de Romandie for a two-fingered salute – and he crashed 3km out from the finish on the opening road stage last Sunday before yesterday’s poor showing, when he appeared unable to accelerate with the finish line at his mercy.

Although the maillot vert may already be lost with Cavendish well adrift of Hushovd and Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-Farnese), today’s win went some way to answering some of the question marks over his form.

The general classification standings remained unchanged on a sweltering day south of Paris, where the temperatures soared to 40C (104F).

Fabian Cancellara (Team Saxo Bank) retained the yellow jersey ahead of Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) in second and Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) in third after six days of action.